Southside Johnny, Little Feat rock the Tent

Saturday

Jun 30, 2007 at 2:00 AM

Two veterans of ’70s FM radio, Jersey R&B balladeers Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, and the jazzy Cajun jammers of Little Feat, provided a decidedly different pair of acts to play the same bill last night at the Melody Tent.

By RICH HOLMESSTAFF WRITER

HYANNIS – Two veterans of ’70s FM radio, Jersey R&B balladeers Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, and the jazzy Cajun jammers of Little Feat, provided a decidedly different pair of acts to play the same bill last night at the Melody Tent.

Southside Johnny and his horn-rich band ran through a 45-minute program to open the evening. Gone were the slick black leather jackets and shades of their urban youth – these guys wore all of their years since their heyday when they sprang from Asbury Park with fellow musicians Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Southside Johnny Lyon had a goatee of grey stubble and a paunch to go with it.

Fate hasn’t been as kind to the Asbury Jukes: They never made it to Bruce’s stellar heights, even though they at times worked and recorded together. But close your eyes and the music the band produced last night was tight and soulful. They had long lived the blues of being second banana, and their sound was honest and gritty.

The band showed its debt to Motown and Stax records as the horn section swayed in synch (a la Temptations) as Southside Johnny led them through “Walk Away Renee.” They dipped into workingman’s bar blues with “This Time Baby’s Gone for Good” and “I Played the Fool.”

Southside Johnny became a dynamo behind the mike, switching from soft croons to powerful pleas. He gestured like a besotted Joe Cocker, but showed his command of the band by conducting every song, especially during “Talk to Me,” which built into a demand that the crowd joined in.

With a touch of dramatic irony, Lyons made “I Don’t Want To Go Home” the set closer, noting in the song’s break that the band only had a minute or two left to play. He genuinely did not seem too happy about it, and as the lights came up for intermission, the roadies swarmed in to remove equipment, and with it, any chance for an encore.

The Tent filled up near capacity for the headliners, Little Feat. They started off with the country funk of “Bringing the Children Home,” the first of several improvisation-heavy tunes. The band, a Tent regular for many years, was warmly received by the audience that knew what to expect: Songs that served mainly as jumping-off points for extended solos, most of which were shared among keyboardist Billy Payne, lead guitarist and singer Paul Barrére, and rhythm guitarist and occasional trumpeter Fred Tackett. This was especially true of their lengthy treatment of “Fat Man in a Bathtub,” the middle of which segued into Bob Marley’s “Get Up, Stand Up” for a few minutes, then diverged into bass and drum solos before wrapping up.

Conga player Sam Clayton sang a throaty bass on “Spanish Moon,” but most of his vocals were lost in the music.

Shaun Murphy, a female vocalist the band added in the mid-’90s, sang “Rock and Roll Doctor” and a strong “Driving Blind,” and she brought the crowd to a standing ovation for her powerful rendition of the John Hiatt song, “Feels Like Rain.” Her Southern pipes had a gospel fervor as the song built to its climax.

Like the opening act, the members of Little Feat looked a little long in the tooth. But the chops were still there. They closed with a fan favorite, “Dixie Chicken.”